Normandy Four leaders call for ceasefire in Donbass

The Normandy Four leaders have discussed the Ukrainian crisis

KIEV, July 24. /TASS/. Normandy Four leaders (Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine) have marked the importance of a complete ceasefire in Donbass monitored round the clock by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission’s (SMM) observers, Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko’s press service said on Monday after the telephone talks.

"The parties (Presidents Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron, Pyotr Poroshenko and Chancellor Angela Merkel - TASS) noted the importance of a complete ceasefire, heavy weapons withdrawal and disengagement of forces with a twenty-four-hour monitoring of the situation by the OSCE SMM," the report says.

In addition, the parties agreed "to coordinate final steps on safety and continue working on the road map to implement the Minsk accords." "For this purpose, a meeting of Normandy Four presidential foreign advisers is due to take place in the second half of August," the press service stressed.

The press service informed that the Ukrainian leader had highlighted again "the importance of introduction of a UN peace mission in Donbass" and accused Russia of reluctance "to release all hostages, including those who are being illegally detained in Russia."

It was also noted that Macron and Merkel had pointed to the "inadmissibility of any statements that undermine Ukraine’s territorial integrity, in particular regarding the establishment of the so-called Malorossiya."